iPhone Text MessagesiPhone text messages (SMS) and Multimedia Messages Systems (MMS) are two of the most useful ways of communication with friends and family. With the power of the iPhone and iPhone 4, this feature is so quick and easy to use.
The iPhone comes with a pre-installed application called Messages that allows your to send and receive both SMS messages and MMS messages.
However, with some iPhone hacks and with some iPhone system tricks from Cydia, you can improve the iPhone SMS Message system dramatically to a way beyond what the default iPhone can do. Of course, you must jailbreak your iPhone first in order to be able to use any of the iPhone tips and tricks in this page. Once you apply those iPhone hacks in this page, you will be able to send and receive free SMS iPhone messages, and MMS to anyone in the USA, or to anyone outside the USA with low international rates bypassing the carriers' plan and charges for those services. Since I owned my iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4, I never used SMS or MMS messages, and never added this service to my iPhone data plan. All what I cared about is an unlimited data plan to be able to access the internet. I simply don't believe that I should be paying for a service that could be achieved for free using Skype, Yahoo Messenger, FaceBook and many other social network applications that are already available on the iPhone. I think the internet is king and I could achieve those SMS and MMS services for free. Moreover, I can make free local and international phone calls without the need for the carrier minutes or services by using the iPhone VoIP.
The Default iPhone Messages App:The iPhone SMS messages application that comes with the iPhone is not that great. It only allows simple SMS text messages and MMS messages and lacks many exciting and useful features. For example, you can't use smileys, and you must open the Message application in order to send an sms text message as shown below.
You can send a picture or MMS message by tapping the camera icon and selecting to send an existing picture or take a picture or video from the iPhone camera.
Google Voice:Google Voice is a service provided by Google that does many things including voice mail, call forwarding, and more importantly send and receive SMS text messages mostly for free to any telephone number in the USA. The Google Voice application itself is not that powerful, it lacks many basic features, and being a third party application it is more complicated to send and receive an iPhone sms message using it.
For example, to send and receive a text message with Google Voice, you must open the Google Voice Application first which I find inconvenient. However, being able to send and receive free text messages with Google Voice using the internet is really one of the coolest features. Using the Google Voice application on the iPhone to send and receive text messages is simple. First you have to sign up for Google Voice using your Mac or PC for free.
Once you create an account, you will be asked to select a phone number based on your area code from a list of given phone numbers. Then you need to download the Google Voice iPhone application from the App Store and sign in with your email and password.
Therefore, you must give your contact this new phone number assigned to you by Google Voice. Your contact will be able to send you text messages through Google Voice network bypassing the carrier's cell phone number assigned by AT&T or Verizon for example. You can use google voice as any normal texting application to send and receive SMS messages. With some iPhone hacks, you will be able to use your iPhone and iPhone 4 as an advanced SMS messaging system. You will be able to use the great features of some third party sms messaging systems combined with google voice free service. Not only you will be able to send and receive free sms text messages easily and quickly but also you will be able to enjoy great features that you have never seen before on a regular stock iPhone 4.
SMS GV Extension:SMS GV Extension is an iPhone hack that allows you to route all your SMS messages through the free Google Voice services instead of your carrier, and output the results to your favorite iPhone text messaging application. The extension cost $2.99 from Cydia. Once it is installed, a new item will appear in the iPhone settings applications. Simply tap on the SMS GV Extension button and enter your Google Voice username which is your email address you used to sign up for the service, and your password for the account.
That is it, from now on, any text message you send will go through the free google voice service and not your SMS service with your carrier. You will be able to save on your message plan, or even remove it completely. biteSMS:
If you use text messaging on the iPhone a lot, then getting biteSMS is a must. It is simply the best text messaging system available on the iPhone, and it will make your text messages experience so enjoyable and simple. biteSMS has a 14 days trail period, after that you can either buy a full license that never expires for $8.99, or you can buy credit for your SMS messages which include a license for 12 months. Or you can still use it completely free and display ads instead.
It is so simple to use and is full of features that blows off the default pre-installed text message application. The only disadvantage is that you must jailbreak your iPhone to install it from Cydia. BiteSMS has its own service for SMS iPhone messages, so you can subscribe to the service and use it for long distance text messages at low rates. It also allows you to use the biteSMS service side by side with the carrier service, and quickly switch between the two services. Combining biteSMS with SMS GV Extension and google voice subscription, you can get a powerful text messaging system for the iPhone that is completely free in the US using the internet. biteSMS is full of exiting features including Smileys, Quick Compose, Quick Reply, Schedule SMS, Signatures, and much more.
When you install biteSMS, a little biteSMS icon is automatically added to the iPhone contextual menu. Tapping in any blank area while composing an sms message will bring the iPhone contextual menu which allows you access smileys, templates, schedule, and pictures to add to your text message. Sending Smileys and MMS:Sending a picture to your friend or family combined with some smileys is so simple and unique with biteSMS. Simply tap on the plus button shown next to the text message. Then, select the camera icon shown in the pop up menu.
When you are done, the selected picture will show up inside the text window. Moreover, you can add any of the smileys shown in the options window. Simply tap on the smiley shape you want as many times as you want and where ever you want in between your sms or mms iPhone message. When you are done, tap the send button to send the text, picture including the smiley. Quick Send and Reply in Lock Screen:This is a great feature in biteSMS. When you receive an SMS message, a pop up window will show up on your iPhone lock screen. There is no need to unlock your iPhone to reply to a text message that you just received. Simply tap on the Reply button and start typing your text message.
Scroll left and right on the buttons to see more options like Template and Close. You can even access smileys right while on the lock screen. All the normal biteSMS features can be accessed by taping on a white space to show the iPhone contextual menu which has the biteSMS icon. When you tap this biteSMS icon, you will have access to all the features of this great iPhone application.
When you are done just tap Send, and your iPhone SMS message will be sent while you are still at the iPhone lock screen!. Landscape Support:It doesn't matter how you hold your iPhone , you can receive and send message in both landscape and portrait orientations.
The Quick Compose Feature:The quick compose feature of biteSMS is simply amazing. No matter where you are, and what iPhone application you are working on or using. Press the volume button. Then immediately tap on the volume icon when it appears on the screen, the quick compose window will appear.
From here, you can start composing an sms or mms iPhone message, and use all the normal features of biteSMS. For example, You can tap on the "star" to show your favorites contacts and then you can tap on the contact to either call or sent a text message. You can access this quick compose menu using any of the available gestures or buttons on the iPhone using Activator.
The History Tab:At anytime when you are at the quick compose or quick reply menu, you can access the messages history by tapping or pulling the little triangle as shown by the red triangle below. Once this menu is pulled down, you can scroll up and down through the history of the sms messages.
Use Templates for Quick Texting:biteSMS is loaded with features that you should visit the biteSMS site for the full details.
Tap the settings button shown on the top right corner. Then scroll down to Templates and then tap the Edit, and then the plus button to add any text that you think you will be using a lot for quick access during your iPhone sms text composition.
As you start typing your iPhone sms message, you can always tap the plus button to have access to those templates for quick typing by tapping the button shown below. This is similar to a multiple copy and paste.
LockInfo:LockInfo is an iPhone hack that has many features that can quickly show on the iPhone lock screen. One of its features is called "Favorite" which allows you to show your favorites contacts on the lock screen. This can be very useful when you want to quickly send an sms message to one of your favorite contacts.
For example, I assign tap and hold to the status bar to open the LockInfo window which shows me the favorites contacts. Then I can tap on the contact to quickly send a text message. In this example, LockInfo opened in a layer on top of an open page in iPhone Safari. Tapping on the contact will allow me to quickly open the iPhone message application and send an sms message.
When you tap the
Text Message
option, either the default Messages application, or biteSMS will open depending on what you specified in settings. Return From iPhone Text Messages To Home of iPhone Tips and Advice blog comments powered by Disqus
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Your Google Voice phone number will be used for text messages and other google voice services. 
BiteSMS from 
biteSMS is so powerful that I love so much and started using sms and mms messages just because of it. 
A new window will show up allowing you to either select a picture from your existing library on your
If you use a sentence a lot, or if you use a combination of sentences more often. Then you should create templates.
LockInfo can also be accessed anytime from anywhere on the
Simply tap on the picture of your contact from the lock screen or anywhere on the
